How to Naturally Air Dry Corn With Temperatures at Zero Degrees

Corn is always naturally air dried as soon as it is harvested. The term describes a fan blowing air up through layers of corn in a bin. Farmers do it on their own instead of hiring commercial grain driers. In the United States, corn drying usually begins in late September and ends six weeks later. One approach to the predicament posed by very harsh Octobers might be to leave corn in the field over the winter. Your corn will dry but will lose weight and you will be harvesting right before you begin planting. Or, you might modify your corn drying procedure.

27 foot diameter corn bin
10 horsepower propeller fan
170,000 BTU propane heater

Instructions

- 1
  Dry your corn in 27 foot diameter bins with perforated floors and floor areas of 573 square feet.
- 2
  Position a 10 horsepower propeller fan under the bin. Drying corn in bins using fans is air drying. "Natural" air drying usually uses only a fan and no additional heat source, but it does not preclude an additional heat source. The goal of natural air drying is to conserve energy, not to ruin your crop. The heater is not needed if the temperature is 0 degrees centigrade.
- 3
  Install a 170,000 BTU propane heater next to the fan for drying in particularly harsh conditions to raise the temperature in the enclosed bin above freezing. Heat radiated from the fan motor will raise the temperature in the bin by an additional 2 degrees Fahrenheit.
- 4
  Stack the corn no higher than 6 feet deep in the bin which will load the bin with about 2750 bushels of corn. This may be one-third or less of your bin capacity.
- 5
  Dry the corn in the bin for three hours. The moisture content of the corn before it is dried is as important a factor in drying the grain as the ambient temperature. Taste or otherwise test the corn at the top of the bin to ensure that it is dry.
- 6
  Examine and taste corn at the bottom of the bin to ensure it is not over-dried. Over-dried corn will show stress cracks.
- 7
  Repeat drying in one hour intervals as needed. Naturally air drying corn in cold temperatures above freezing allows the bin to be filled to capacity and takes about a month to complete.

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